Kishore Ramadhar, the brother of Congress of the People (COP) leader Prakash Ramadhar, has vowed to vote for the PNM in the September 7 general election. Kishore also promised to be in one of several “Say No to Prakash” trucks that will traverse the St Augustine constituency on Saturday, which his brother is contesting under a COP ticket.
The trucks, funded by television broadcaster and businessman Inshan Ishmael, will also go into the constituencies of St Joseph and Tunapuna in an effort to bring home these two marginal seats for the PNM. Yesterday, Ishmael assured he would intensify his campaign against the PP next week.
Earlier this month, Ishmael had mounted a campaign against Ramadhar on his Facebook page, calling on constituents to vote for PNM candidate Alisha Romano instead of Prakash Ramadhar. The move comes almost two years after Kishore had called on his younger brother (Prakash) to resign and for the party to remove itself from the PP after the COP’s crushing defeat in the 2013 local government election.
In November 2013, the party’s executive suspended Kishore, Rudy Hanamji and Satu Ann Ramcharan from the party. On Tuesday, Kishore, a database administrator, was one of several disaffected COP supporters who turned up at the PNM’s public meeting in San Juan, saying they would not support the PP at the polls.
Kishore, who was clad in COP attire, said his reason for attending the meeting “was to tell the membership of the COP...those of us who have never supported the PNM...that in this particular instance, they don’t have to join the PNM but we need to support the PNM to remove the PP from power.”
Kishore has said: “I intend to vote for the PNM in this election. If and when the PNM becomes corrupt as they are likely to be, I will be championing against them. “If we don’t vote for the PNM, it means the PP will retain power. If the PP retains power I do not believe that the moral fabric of society can survive another five years.”
“In the next few days,” Kishore said, “I intend to campaign on the East West Corridor for the PNM. I cannot say I would not be there (in St Augustine). I expect to be involved.” He thinks St Augustine is the only seat the COP can win. “I expect them to lose everything else,” he added. If the COP was defeated at the polls, Kishore said, there was the possibility the party might call on its leader to step down.
“The membership of the party would have to take some serious decisions if they do not bring home the eight seats they are contesting,” he added. Kishore said he believed he had an obligation to remove the PP because of the massive level of deception and corruption it had perpetrated against citizens.
“The fact that Prakash Ramadhar is my brother is an accident of biology which I can do nothing about. The fact he continues to be a supporter of this Government is a source of endless shame to me,” said Kishore whose term as the COP secretary for education and research expired a year ago. He said the COP was formed on principles which he still kept and hoped to revive after the election.
“My brother needs to explain to this country why he deviated and violated from those principles. I cannot support that. He is a total disappointment. What did he sell out the COP for? What did you gain?” he asked. Kishore said he never left the COP but the COP leadership “has left me.” For the past three years, Kishore said he had not spoken to his brother while it had brought a rift in the family.
“This family is entirely in support of Prakash because they figure he is their shining light and blue-eye boy. He is bringing fame to the family by being in Parliament and all that,” he added. Several calls to Prakash’s cellphone went unanswered yesterday and he did not respond to a text message.